100 OroKabu Challenge
by Sephielya J. Maxwell
Summary: This is my 100 OroKabu drabbles challenge.
1. Introduction

Author's Note: This is the start of my 100 challenge for OroKabu. They will not always be in order, and they will sometimes be more than one at a time, but I will upload them here. Look up Medic-at-Heart on deviantart to see them in order, when they're finished! I'm also doing one for KakaKabu.

#1 Introduction

First introductions were not always the best.

Orochimaru held little interest in the silver-haired bespeckled boy that his partner was meeting with. He was young, cold, obedient, articulate, and bright. But he was Sasori's spy, and the Sannin's mind was elsewhere. Over the years, he began to see more of the young spy. Times when the red-headed puppet-master was not present, things began to change. The obedient mask that the other held began to slip, a little more each time. The Sannin was to be respected, but he was not his master. And the more that Orochimaru saw of the cheeky servant, the more interest that he gained. Whenever he stumped the medic, for he was in schooling to become a medic, with a question, Kabuto would adjust his glasses to stall for time to think of an answer. He would answer the Orochimaru's questions with a knowledge that was beyond his age, and his skill when the Sannin coaxed him to spar was exceptional as well.

Less and less the silver-haired boy became "Sasori's Spy", and the more he became Kabuto. Orochimaru discovered the mind-jutsu by accident. He asked the spy to recover a bit of information for him without letting Sasori know. When the puppet-master confronted the Sannin about it, he was furious. So, that was where the boy's loyalties truly lie? After all of their conversations?

It hadn't taken long to get a confession out of the trembling spy, merely twelve at the time. He had no knowledge of telling Sasori anything, and he _had _gotten the information that the Sannin requested of him. He told him, eagerly, and offered to get more.

So, _this_ was Kabuto, was it?

The jutsu that Sasori had kept him under proved difficult to work with, when he met the boy alone one night. Kabuto had no real memory of the jutsu being placed on him, though he wasn't exactally compliant with the Sannin when he tried to remove it. Forced loyalty, by proxy of jutsu. It was ludicrous! Orochimaru knew how to gain loyalty, loyalty that would last.

He freed his medic, _his _spy that night, and he chained him to himself at the very same time. Kabuto's introduction was finally complete. He was Yakushi Kabuto, a spy, right-hand man, and loyal servant of the Sannin Orochimaru.


	2. Love

#2 Love

Kabuto didn't understand the concept of love. It wasn't something that he had ever been taught about. Ninja learned to deceive and kill, not cuddle and kiss. His previous masters were all the same, if not stronger or more devious than one another. They passed him from hand to hand like an toy that they had outgrown, with no care what so ever about his potential or current skill. No home, no one master, and fake ties everywhere he went. His identity died with him in every village that he betrayed.

His foster father's words of comfort whenever he failed never meant anything to him at all, for the man seemed more disappointed than anything that his adopted child was a 'failure'. His teammates in Konoha all hated him, because the Sannin spent to much time giving only Kabuto such important missions and objectives.

Affection and sweet words had always been a way to get what he wanted. Someone was so easily inclined to do something for you, if they thought that you liked them. It was foolish, and that was all. Even the supposedly sacred act of sex was nothing but a tool, perhaps in the end one of the ninjas greatest weapons. And Kabuto could use it just this way, if he needed to. It was all for his duty to his current master.

Orochimaru, who had taken him in from Sasori's cruel jutsu, and taught him many things. Among them, how useless it was to become attached to anyone. He said this, and yet they were often together, the two of them, sharing secrets and words that were not for anyone but the two of them.

Kabuto was not attached to Otogakure. He was duty-bound to his master. If the Sannin decided to destroy or abandon his village and start all over again, Kabuto would make it happen. Nothing had changed in that respect. The medic still lacked a true home, a country. Instead, his home was when he was with the Sannin, where ever they may be.

He healed the subjects, he preformed the experiments, he assassinated, infiltrated, stole, lied, mixed his deadly medicines and poisons alongside each other, all in the name of his master. The verbal, and sometimes physical backlash of being the sole person able to weather one of Orochimaru's tirades was somewhat of a setback, but Kabuto wouldn't hand his job to anyone. _He _was what the Sannin needed, and only he could do what he did. And otherwise, how could he repay his generous master for all he had done for him? If Kabuto loved anything... it was his own loyalty, and the choice he had made to keep it this time.

- - - - - - - - -

Orochimaru loved no one but himself. Everything else was no good, it gained him nothing. His parents love, which he barely remembered, had consisted of praising him for his abilities. After that it was Sarutobi's same guidence and praise, always building him up. His teammates were a little different, though neither of them were really 'loving'.

Tsunade was too obbsessed with her self. She was always right, always chasing other boys not on her team. She was loud, and boyish, but she was dependable in battle.

Jiraiya was a bumbling idiot, loud, and abrasive. He was a good friend, but he didn't understand a lot of things, because he had never had the kind of pressure that Orochimaru had on him, but he was a skilled asset on a mission. The burden of a prodigy was hard.

Jiraiya was too busy womanizing and peeping, and Tsunade was busy with her own love-lives and family.

Orochimaru spent his time alone, growing stronger.

The final straw came when he was passed over in favor of Jiraiya's student for Hokage.

Love was useless, and a waste of time. Getting to know someone and basing your actions on their likes and dislikes was pointless, unless you were trying to gain something. What good was personal gain, besides the occasional pleasure? Now, affection, the Sannin could deal with.

He was often affectionate with some of his favorites. It went a long way, after all. His prized Five, for example. Their shining leader Kimimaro would be happy for days with a pat on his head or a stoke of the cheek with the back of his white knuckles. His medic was a little trickier.

He thought he was being condescended if the Sannin did something like that to him. He hated being treated like a child, that was what he had said. And so Orochimaru had tried to think of ways to satisfy the often jealous Kabuto's need for praise. He'd tried to use his words alone, but it came off as cold, and the medic always ended up thinking he had done something wrong instead. He'd tried to use small gifts, things he knew the work-oriented boy needed or wanted for his job, and while Kabuto loved them, he simply threw himself into using what he was given without taking the time to realize the meaning of them—which was not to make him work harder at all, but merely a gift. It was like giving a housewife a new broom or cooking pan.

For someone who loved only himself, Orochimaru had a much better grasp on affection than his servant. It was a very unconventional way that he finally did find to prove to the medic that he _was _appriciated.

He was very, _very _hard on him.

He gave the boy the most difficult missions to do, and the most complicated rules to follow. He wanted specific reports, and specific descriptions from him, all the time, every time. When Kabuto failed in something minor, the Sannin would simply frown, not even needing words to express how disappointed that he was. Kabuto worked hard not to ever see that look. Being used such, the medic found more and more trust placed in him, and he finally began to understand his importance to his master. He grew confident, and he even began to talk back.

Most of the time, this was met with swift verbal or physical backlash from his moody master, as Orochimaru did not like to be tested, or mocked. However, there were very many times when the Sannin found it refreshing as well. The more Kabuto succeeded, the more Orochimaru trusted him.

Love was useless and trivial. But there was nothing wrong with correctly placed affection. And Orochimaru found that he liked encouraging his medic. After all, it was extremely useful to have someone so skilled, that he could trust with his life.

So perhaps, he loved to do it.


	3. Light

#3 Light

A ninja always woke before they opened their eyes. Breathing was even, as if still asleep, and their body was lax and motionless as in sleep.

The first thing that he noticed was how warm that he was. Body heat, building up from the arm that was over his shoulder. A heavier body was over his partway, and his head was tucked under that body's chin. He could smell the usual scents.

The remnants of musk that was sweat, the sweet fragrance of the dark hair that was down around him, that slight scent of burned wax and the dust from the road. Ah, that was right. It was almost morning here, in this small hotel room. Rather than camp out yet again, the two had opted to stay in a small village, at a hotel on the outskirts of town. Lovely place, with great privacy, if you asked him.

Opened his dark eyes, scooting back just a little on the bed slowly. The Sannin was still asleep. Mystic golden eyes closed, the elegant purple marks around his eyes stood out even more against his stark-white skin, which was almost gray in the dimly lit room. His raven hair was all astray, and he reached out to brush it back behind his master's ear, letting his fingertips brush over his cheek. Why was it, that the move did not wake him? Ninja always woke when someone even entered the room. Did he somehow sense that it was his medic, or was he simply so content to be safe with Kabuto staying in the same room? It made something in his chest tighten.

The Sannin slept so deeply and so peacefully, that Kabuto could have kissed him. He resisted the urge, afraid that doing _that _would wake Orochimau for sure. And then it might lead to other things, and he was still a bit sore, truth be told. Healing did nothing for over a week on the road, and a long night with the legendary Sannin. And so he sighed, quietly, nuzzling back into the warm body of his master and closing his eyes, wishing for at least another hour of sleep before he was roused to travel again.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

Orochimaru sensed the light before he opened his golden eyes, giving a small sigh as he sensed it was morning. There was a warm body under his arm, and he held it closer even before he glanced down to see the silver-haired boy. His medic was fast asleep, his hair astray and his breathing slow. The light almost seemed to reflect from his pale skin and lustrous hair, as if it had taken its fill of it long ago, and had nowhere else to go but away from him. Long slender fingers ran through that hair slowly, putting it back into place. I would have waken any trained ninja, and his servant was not lax in instinct. It must mean that he was secure in his surroundings, and well, the Sannin supposed he _had _fallen asleep holding him. His body was simply used to being touched in his sleep.

He knew that he had been asking a lot of his servant to sleep with him the previous night, but he couldn't have waited. One more night, and they would be back in the Oto's main base. That meant training Sasuke, checking up on spies, reading reports from them and his scientists, and Kabuto would be busy with his own experiments, healing the injured, and checking up professionally on his master. All business. They both deserved a little break, didn't they? Hand under the sheets, he ran his fingertips slowly down along the medic's spine, and Kabuto did shift a little, then. His body moved reflexively away when he reached his lower back at that pressure, pressing himself closer to his master, and the Sannin sighed. Yes, he was sore.

He cursed the light that had waken him, and held the medic tighter as he closed his eyes. They needed more rest. He missed his dark tunnels and caves, where there was no light to judge time and wake them. Where the only light that he needed, was here in his arms.


End file.
